Method and apparatus for fast and local anneal of anti-ferromagnetic (AF) exchange-biased magnetic stacks

ABSTRACT

A method (and structure) of thermally treating a magnetic layer of a wafer, includes annealing, for a predetermined short duration, a magnetic layer of a single wafer.

The present application is a Continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/690,538 filed on Oct. 23, 2003 now U.S. Pat. No.7,473,656.

U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS IN THE INVENTION

The subject matter of the present application was at least partiallyfunded under the Grant No. MDA972-99-C-0009 from the U.S. DefenseAdvanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a method and system forthermally treating a magnetic layer, and more particularly to a methodand system for fast and local annealing of a magnetic stack.

2. Description of the Related Art

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices typically must undergo athermal treatment to set some of the magnetic layers in a desiredorientation. Generally, the samples must be held (e.g., for about 1hour) at relatively high temperatures (300-400° C.), while a large (1-2Teslas) and uniform magnetic field is applied.

However, a practical difficulty arises for performing such steps onlarge (200 or 300 mm diameter) wafers, as this entails building largeanneal ovens and magnets to achieve uniform conditions over the wafer.

Additionally, the process is slow because of the size of the ovens, andthe set direction cannot be varied from point-to-point on the wafer.

In a conventional technique 500, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, abatch process uses a combined magnet and furnace, either in vacuum orinert gas.

In this conventional technique, the process flow 500 includes firstloading a batch of wafers into a relatively large anneal oven andpumping down the oven (step 510) (optionally ramping up the magneticfield, if an electromagnet is being employed), ramping-up thetemperature (e.g., 300-400° C.) and holding the temperature at a targetvalue (step 520), applying a magnetic field and ramping down thetemperature (step 530) (optionally ramping down magnetic field, ifelectromagnet was employed), and finally unloading the batch (step 540).

However, the above-described conventional technique 500 has manydisadvantages.

First, there is uneven field and temperature uniformity across thebatch. Additionally, there are a long ramp-up and ramp-down (e.g., ofthe temperature in the oven) times due to the large heat capacity. Thismakes the entire process relatively slow.

Additionally, since a batch mode processing is employed, one must waitfor a batch of wafers to exist, in order to process them efficiently.That is, single wafers are generally not processed due to costconstraints. Instead, the user must work in increments (e.g., orbatches), as such increments/batches are accumulated. Thus, there islittle flexibility in the processing and difficult to tailor theprocessing to numbers of wafers less than a batch. Hence, in theconventional techniques, there is no local option in processing wafers.

Another disadvantage of the conventional techniques is the spacerequired by such systems. That is, such systems are generally verylarge, heavy and cumbersome.

Additionally, complex and expensive magnetic field units are required,as good uniformity across the stack is normally needed. Without suchcomplex and expensive magnetic field units, such uniformity is seldomachieved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing and other exemplary problems, drawbacks, anddisadvantages of the conventional methods and structures, an exemplaryfeature of the present invention is to provide a method (and structure)for thermally treating a magnetic layer.

Another exemplary feature is to provide a method (and structure) forperforming a fast and local annealing of magnetic stacks.

In a first exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method ofthermally treating a magnetic layer of a wafer, includes annealing, fora predetermined short duration, a magnetic layer of a single wafer.

In a second exemplary aspect, a method for processing a magnetic stack,includes annealing a single wafer having a magnetic stack formedthereon, with a predetermined fast anneal in a presence of a magneticfield.

In third exemplary aspect of the present invention, an apparatus fortreating a magnetic layer of a wafer, includes a heating element forannealing, for a predetermined short duration, a magnetic layer of asingle wafer, and a magnet for applying a magnetic field during theannealing.

Thus, in the exemplary aspects of the present invention, a single wafercan be processed such that a heating element can be used to heat anentire (single) wafer completely at one time, or a local area on thewafer; and the local temperature is monitored using a detector (e.g., aninfrared (IR) detector or the like). Then, a local magnetic field isapplied at the heated area using a magnetic field generating structure(e.g., an electromagnet or permanent magnets). The heated area is thenscanned or stepped across the wafer.

With the exemplary embodiments described herein, magnetic stacks usingan exchange-biasing antiferromagnet such as PtMn can be reliably andefficiently annealed in a magnetic field after deposition, in order toalign the pinning of the magnetic reference layer.

Further, unlike the conventional magnetic anneal furnaces having processtimes on the order of 5 to 10 hours per batch, the batch times achievedby the single wafer process of the present invention are on the order of60 seconds per wafer or up to 60 minutes per batch (e.g., assuming 60wafers in a batch). This is much faster than the conventional methodswhich require that the wafer be held at a temperature for 1-2 hours ormore, but in which the entire cycle time of the conventional methods ismuch longer as mentioned above.

Additionally, the invention allows sequentially annealing of differentareas of the same wafer in different directions. This feature may be ofinterest for a number of applications as described below.

Further, the invention allows higher temperatures to be used (e.g., upto 500° C. for a shorter time period).

Additionally, as noted above, a single wafer at a time can be processed,such that the single wafer can be completely heated up and cooled down.Thus, with the invention, it is possible to treat each waferindividually.

Hence, the invention avoids batch processing and all of its problems(including the difficulty of applying a homogeneous magnetic field overthe entire batch of wafers and the use of a large magnet for providingsuch a field), by processing single wafers or portions of a wafer at atime.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and exemplary other purposes, aspects and advantages willbe better understood from the following detailed description of anexemplary embodiment of the invention with reference to the drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary system 100 of the present invention;

FIG. 1B illustrates another system 100A, somewhat similar to that shownin FIG. 1A, in which there is simultaneous heating and field scanning;

FIG. 1C illustrates a system 100B for performing a complete waferanneal;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary embodiment of a method200 according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a graph 300 illustrating that a fast anneal is possible onmagnetic stacks;

FIG. 4 is a graph 400 illustrating that a wafer level processing; and

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a conventional method 500 forannealing of magnetic stacks.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1A-4,there are shown exemplary embodiments of the method and structuresaccording to the present invention.

Exemplary Embodiment

As described above, during anneal a strong magnetic field is applied toalign the antiferromagnet (AF) and the adjacent ferromagnetic layer inthe desired direction. The result is an exchange-biased ferromagneticlayer that is pinned very strongly in a certain direction. A necessaryrequirement for a successful anneal process is a fully alignedferromagnetic layer and/or a cool-down from temperatures above theblocking temperature (around 300° C. for PtMn) in a magnetic field.

It is noted that the invention is certainly not limited to PtMn, or aspecific magnetic material, but can find great benefit with any materialneeding a set property needing the presence of a magnetic property.Moreover, any material having an intrinsic anisotropy needing a setmagnetic property, would benefit from the invention.

In view of the foregoing and referring now to FIG. 1A, a system 100according to the invention is provided.

System 100 includes a magnet 110 (e.g., preferably a permanent magnetbut an electromagnet magnet may also be used) and a single wafer stage120 with a heating element 130 facing the wafer surface 140.

It is noted that, with the magnet 110 of the invention, the field can beapplied locally to the wafer surface 140, and thus instead of trying togenerate a large field (e.g., about 1 tesla or more) over the entirewafer surface, the large field can be generated in only a small volumefor the wafer portion that one is trying to anneal. This operation ismuch easier to do, and much easier to perform uniformly as compared tothe conventional techniques which try to apply the field over the entirewafer.

Heating element 130 can be any of a rapid thermal anneal (RTA)-type(e.g., halogen) lamp, a laser (e.g., preferably having a very shortpulse; of course, the invention is not limited to any particular value,as the duration corresponding to the designer requirements andconstraints), a flashlight, a focused heat lamp, or the like. Thepreferred temperature range for the heating element is in a range fromabout 300 to 500° C., and a preferred duration of holding the wafer atthe temperature is about 1-60 seconds (depending upon the temperatureemployed).

It is noted that the heating element (e.g., RTA devices, etc.) differsfrom the conventional heating elements (e.g., which are batch processingtools) in that the heating element tools of the invention can scan, makea line, make multiple points, etc.

Additionally, a thermal sensor 150 can be positioned advantageouslyadjacent the spot on the wafer to be heated up, thereby to sense atemperature of the area of interest and provide a feedback loop (notshown) to the heating element 130. Preferably, the magnetic field isturned on all of the time (except possibly when scanning the wafer) tospeed the process even more.

By the same token, in a different exemplary embodiment, when thetemperature sensed is at the desired temperature, the heating element130 can be turned off and the aligning magnetic field can be applied.Thus, the temperature could be increased to the desired temperature,then turned off, and then, as the wafer is cooling off, the aligningfield could be applied at least once (and in some applications dependingupon the designer's requirements, it may be desirable to selectivelyapply the field a plurality of times).

FIG. 1B illustrates another system 100A, somewhat similar to that shownin FIG. 1A, in which there is simultaneous heating and field scanning.

FIG. 1B shows a single wafer 140A which is fixed and the heat andmagnetic field being scannable (e.g., movable). However, the inventionalso may have the wafer 140A being movable, and the heat and magneticfield being stationary. In FIG. 1B, the wafer 140A is shown in an activefurnace region (not referenced) via extreme laser/halogen/flashannealing. Also shown in FIG. 1B is a thermal sensor 150A.

Additionally, as shown, the frontside of the wafer is shown undergoingthe stack annealing (e.g., at reference numeral 160), whereas themagnetic field generation (e.g., generated by magnets 110A on thebackside of the wafer 140A) is performed on the backside and frontsideof the wafer. The backside of the wafer is undergoing cooling (e.g., atreference numeral 170) in the exemplary arrangement of FIG. 1B. Hence,the wafer is relatively cool at a portion away from the heatingelement/magnetic field being generated.

As described hereinbelow, in a first example of the invention, a fastprocessing of the wafer would result, whereas in a second example aspatially resolved anneal of different locations of the wafer wouldresult.

First Exemplary Method

FIG. 1C illustrates a system 100B for performing a complete wafer 140Banneal according to the first exemplary method of the invention.

That is, in this technique, one wafer 140B at a time is processed, butthe full wafer 140B is processed simultaneously. Preferably, a flashlamp, laser, or a RTA-type lamp is used in this process (e.g., seereference numeral 180 for the active heat region), in which the wafer isheated up quickly and cooled quickly. Cooling is shown at referencenumeral 190. Magnet 110B applies the magnetic field.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method 200 according to the firstexemplary method of the invention. In step 210 of method 200, first awafer is loaded to the stage.

Then, in step 220, the magnetic field is ramped-up, and in step 230 theheating element (e.g., lamp, laser etc.) is turned-on and held for anecessary time.

In step 240, the lamp is turned-off, and in step 250 the wafer is cooleddown (e.g., with He or the like). The present invention is not limitedto a particular medium for cooling the wafer. Indeed, nitrogen, argon,cooling liquid such as water, etc., and/or a vacuum (e.g., just lettingthe wafer sit) could be employed. Hence, no cooling (vacuum, if nogasses are desired) or convection cooling (e.g., nitrogen, argon,helium, etc.) could be employed.

Finally, in step 260, the wafer is unloaded. Thus, the full waferannealing is completed.

A second exemplary option of the invention is directed to processingonly portions (e.g., point-by-point) of the wafer at a time. One of theadvantages of processing point-by-point across the wafer is that one canchange the direction of the magnetic field point-by-point, and in somestructures it is advantageous to set the direction in the orthogonaldirection. This is not possible in the conventional annealing ovens,with the conventional techniques performing batch processing.

The process can flow point by point sequentially, or multiple points inparallel. Different field strengths and orientations can be applied tothese different locations.

The second example of the present invention would allow, for example, arotation (as shown in optimal step 255 of FIG. 2) of the wafer aftercool down, and annealing (in optional step 256 of FIG. 2) of other areasof the wafer in a different direction. For example, as shown in FIG. 3B,the wafer could be rotated a predetermined angle (e.g., 45, 90 degreesetc.) to process the individual wafer (or a different spot on the wafer)differently. This technique would be useful in sensor-bridgeapplications (e.g., where the orientation of the reference layer may bealigned differently, which is not possible with batch processing).Another application would be for providing different module orientationsin embedded (e)-DRAMS design and the like. That is, the DRAM designermay want the embedded modules to be rotated in a certain manner (e.g.,90 degrees). The local annealing would provide much flexibility in theDRAM design to the DRAM designer/engineer. Thus, these are but twoexemplary applications of the local annealing.

It is noted that the local magnet can be designed in a way that thelocal field of the present invention does not perturb any structureswhich have been set already. Also, the local confinement of the heat tothe area of setting does not cause significant perturbance indeselected, cold (hence not activated) neighboring regions.

FIG. 3A illustrates a graph 300 that shows that fast anneals arepossible with the present invention.

That is, FIG. 3A shows a graph 300 with the typical anneal times as afunction of temperature. As the temperature increases, the time requiredfor the anneal decreases. The current typical temperatures and the timerequired is shown at reference numeral 310. Hence, as shown, this makesit possible to go from a batch process to a single wafer process.

Thus, based on the data in FIG. 3A, it can be expected that going tohigher temperatures, for shorter times, good magnetic properties can bedesirably achieved. Hence, a process is provided where each wafer isprocessed very quickly, and wafer processing can be performed one afteranother.

Additionally, FIG. 4 is a graph 400 illustrating a wafer levelprocessing. More specifically, the pinning field vs. the anneal time at280° C. is shown.

In FIG. 4, a stack (SP FET) having a structure of50TaN/50Ta/175PtMn/15CoFe/9Al/50Py/100TaN was investigated. Referencenumeral 420 represents a parallel field, reference numeral 430represents a perpendicular field decay, and reference numeral 440represents a reversed field decay. The graph 400 demonstrates that thebest magnetic device properties (e.g., pinning field) are normallyachieved during the first, virgin activation of the antiferromagneticsystem in the presence of a magnetic field. Any further resets inmagnetic field are shown to be less effective. Thus, it is preferred tomagnetically set devices on the wafer level, before any other thermallyhot downstream, device-fabrication-processes are done. Hence, only asingle magnetic anneal step after the device has been fabricated (e.g.,after wafer cutting or packaging) could result in insufficient magneticperformance of the device.

With the invention, a single wafer process with short process time dueto low heat capacity (only one wafer, only one surface is annealed) canbe provided.

Thus, unlike a batch process in which 10 to 40 wafers could be processedper hour, with the typical batch size being 25-100, the invention canprovide advantageously a single wafer process in which 60 wafers may beprocessed per hour, with each single wafer process taking on the orderof 1-60 seconds. Thus, the invention provides high throughput, and it isbatch size independent (e.g., there is no accumulation time).Additionally, there is higher process flexibility and improved waferlogistics.

Additionally, the process of the invention can use a relatively smallmagnet volume as only a sufficiently homogeneously field in one waferplane (i.e., z-dimension is˜film thickness) has to be achieved and notover the entire batch volume (i.e., z-dimension˜batch size times waferpitch), as in conventional anneal furnaces. As a result, the magnet haveless weight allowing also a smaller footprint, thereby taking up littleproduction floor space.

Further, there are less requirements for temperature and magnetic fielduniformity since only the wafer surface has to be optimized.

Further, there are less requirements for temperature and magnetic fieldas only a spatially limited region has to be uniform in temperature andmagnetic field (e.g., in the second option)

Further, identical process conditions are provided for each wafer (noposition dependency). Moreover, there is optional local resolution

Additionally, the system is not dependent on the size of the wafer so itis easier to scale up. Further, the thermal treatment can be applied toonly those areas that need to be set.

Additionally, the set conditions can be changed locally, so thatdifferent parts of the wafer can be set differently.

Hence, with the invention, it is possible to treat each waferindividually, each completely at one time (e.g., with flash lamp, rapidthermal annealing, etc.) by rapidly heating up and cooling down thecomplete wafer, or the annealing could be performed at differentportions of the wafer locally (e.g., spot-to-spot, multiple spots at onetime, a line, region-to-region, etc.). Thus, if one is willing to go torelatively high temperatures (e.g., 300 to 500° C.), faster processingcan result and yet there is no degradation of the underlying silicon ormagnetic stack properties.

While the invention has been described in terms of several exemplaryembodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the inventioncan be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

For example, the invention would be especially useful for producingstructures using AF-based stacks such as MRAMs, read heads, sensors,micro-electrical-mechanical (MEMS) structures, and the like.

Additionally, with the local option, each wafer can be treateddifferently.

With the local anneal, several applications are immediately evidentincluding a sensor-bridge application where the orientation of thereference layer may be oriented differently (e.g., by 90 degrees or thelike). Such is not possible with the batch processing. Anotherapplication is a different module orientation in embedded-DRAMS/design.

Further, it is noted that, Applicant's intent is to encompassequivalents of all claim elements, even if amended later duringprosecution.

1. A method of thermally treating a magnetic layer of a wafer,comprising: annealing, for a predetermined short duration, a magneticlayer of a single wafer; and applying a plurality of local magneticfields to said magnetic layer obtained without making electrical contactto the wafer, said local magnetic fields being applied in differentdirections to different areas of the single wafer.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said annealing comprises: heating an entirety of saidsingle wafer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said annealingcomprises: heating a local area on the single wafer.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said annealing comprises: heating said magnetic layerwithin a range of about 300 to about 500 degrees C.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said annealing comprises: heating said magnetic layerfor a duration within a range of about 1 second to about 60 seconds inthe presence of a magnetic field.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidannealing comprises: annealing by one of a flash lamp, a laser, aflashlight, a focused heat lamp, and a rapid thermal anneal (RTA) lamp.7. The method of claim 1, wherein said applying said plurality of localmagnetic fields to said magnetic layer is conducted after saidannealing.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein said applying is performedto align a pinning of the magnetic layer.
 9. The method of claim 3,wherein said annealing comprises annealing a desired spot on the singlewafer, said method further comprising: performing one of a spot-to-spotprocessing and a line-to-line processing.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein said applying said plurality of local magnetic fields to saidmagnetic layer comprises applying a magnetic field to specific portionsof said magnetic layer.
 11. A method for processing a magnetic stack,comprising: annealing a single wafer having a magnetic stack formedthereon, with a predetermined fast anneal in a presence of a magneticfield; and applying a plurality of local magnetic fields to saidmagnetic layer, said local magnetic field being generated withoutelectrical wires on the wafer, said local magnetic fields being appliedin different directions to different areas of the single wafer.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising: cooling the single wafer by atleast one of cooling liquid, helium, nitrogen, argon, and a vacuum. 13.The method of claim 11, further comprising: annealing only portions ofthe single wafer at a time.
 14. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: changing a direction of an applied magnetic fieldpoint-by-point.
 15. A method for processing a magnetic stack,comprising: annealing a single wafer having a magnetic stack formedthereon, with a predetermined fast anneal in a presence of a magneticfield; and annealing multiple separate locations at the same timewherein said magnetic field is applied in different directions todifferent areas of the single wafer.
 16. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: rotating the single wafer and annealing another area of thesingle wafer in a different direction.
 17. The method of claim 11,further comprising: rotating the field and annealing another area of thesingle wafer in a different direction.
 18. The method of claim 11,further comprising: cooling only portions of the single wafer.
 19. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: cooling the single wafer by atleast one of cooling liquid, helium, nitrogen, argon, and a vacuum. 20.The method of claim 1, further comprising: annealing only portions ofthe single wafer at a time.
 21. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: changing a direction of the local magnetic fieldpoint-by-point.
 22. The method of claim 1, further comprising: annealingmultiple separate locations at the same time.
 23. The method of claim 1,further comprising: rotating the single wafer and annealing another areaof the single wafer in a different direction.
 24. The method of claim 1,further comprising: rotating the field and annealing another area of thesingle wafer in a different direction.
 25. The method of claim 1,further comprising: cooling only portions of the single wafer.
 26. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said applying said plurality of localmagnetic fields to said magnetic layer comprises applying a magneticfield to less than an entirety of said magnetic layer.